Edmonton Oilers star forward Evander Kane stood up for a 10-year-old fan and cancer patient this past week after she was allegedly mocked, spit on, and mistreated at a game in Los Angeles Kings game by an unruly fan who had absolutely no regard for human decency. As Kane pointed out, it’s one thing to treat another human being who happens to cheer for an opposing team so badly, but to be so cruel to a 10-year-old girl who is suffering from cancer was deplorable.
In the aftermath of a social media message Kane posted, fans in both Edmonton and Los Angeles have stepped up in a big way. And, on Wednesday, it was learned that the story took an even more intriguing twist.
The young fan is named Cecily Eklund and she was front and center on Tuesday as the Oilers took on the Kings, winning Game 5 in a decisive manner. She was shown on the big screen at the game and the fans erupted in support for her. This all came after her mother reports that while in LA to take in Game 3, “There was a fight just two rows in front of Cecily, she was spit on, sworn at.” When Kane stood up for Cecily and called the behavior of fans unacceptable (she was also verbally harassed for wearing an Oilers jersey while in the women’s restroom), he was met with hateful messages from some LA fans who took aim at his past and blamed him for the fact that Cecily was so mistreated. He posted one message on his feed as an example of just how unruly the Kings fans had become.
It was later learned Global News inquired with the company that employed the fan who posted the hateful message and that the employee with the same name no longer works for the company. (we won’t post the name of that fan for obvious reasons). In short, she was fired for being such an awful person and her Instagram page has since been deleted.
While that was the negative in this story, there are some positives too. As Cecily battles cancer, fans are stepping up, including some from LA who are donating to a fund that will help cover her cancer treatment costs. One Twitter user wrote, “Hey Kings Twitter, this awesome and amazing hockey fan is named Cecily, and she has cancer. Here is her donation page. Let’s show her what real Kings fans are like.” Fans did step up and the $30K goal she had with the Stollery fund that was started is well over $50K now.
As a side note, it appears the Kings and some of their fans have awoken and angered Evander Kane to the point he’s upped his level of play in the series. That’s not good news for the Kings.
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